James, Aquin heat up in 2nd half to advance to sectional final

Monday

FREEPORT — Aquin couldn’t have had a much colder start to Monday’s Class 1A girls basketball sectional semifinal against East Dubuque.

“We were so dead in the first half,” Aquin senior Georgia James said.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, Aquin was far from it in the second half. Sparked by James, the Bulldogs heated up in the third quarter to take over the game and advance to Thursday’s sectional championship with a 49-38 victory.

James scored 12 of her game-high 19 points in the third quarter when the Bulldogs outscored East Dubuque 17-4 to turn a six-point halftime deficit into a seven-point lead heading to the fourth.

“Georgia went off,” said Aquin sophomore Abby Barr, who added 13 points. “I was so hyped. When she made that first three I was like ‘this is a good night.’ I could feel it. We were coming up.”

It took nine and half minutes for the Bulldogs to even make their first field goal of the game, and they found themselves trailing 14-3 early in the second quarter.

“I knew if we kept playing defense, eventually we’d get back into it,” Aquin coach Doral Reining said. “I was tempted to call a timeout to try to settle them down, but I gave it a chance and we’ve been in that position this year and we never panicked. They just kept playing.”

The Bulldogs battled their way back in the game by half, and that proved to be key, as they gave themselves the chance to take it over in the third.

“When we came out in the second half and started hitting I’m like ‘OK, we’ve got this,’” James said. “I think we were too scared because it’s a sectional game. I think we just needed to calm down like it was any other game.”

James’ play on both ends of the floor helped the Bulldogs turn the game around in the third.

“We pride ourselves on defense and Georgia is the ruler of that defense,” Reining said. “What she does, getting in people’s faces and causing turnovers, that gave us a chance on the offensive end to relax a little bit,”

Aquin scored the first three points of the third quarter to push its lead out to 10, and the Warriors never got closer than eight the rest of the way as the Bulldogs secured their spot in the title game. They’ll face either Eastland or Stockton, which both shared the NUIC West title with East Dubuque and will square off in the other semifinal Tuesday.

“No matter who it is, it’s going to be a difficult game,” Reining said. “We feel that we can play with either team. We’re as good as any team in the area, we think, and we’re trying to prove that.”

Adam Kradle: 815-987-1388; akradle@rrstar.com; @AdamJKradle

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